Antaeus Presents Peace in Our Time -- Coward on the Coast

Australian-born actor, director, and playwright Barry Creyton lived in London during 1967-77, playing in comedy, dramatic roles, and revues in the West End. Since 1989, he has worked almost exclusively in the United States; one notable exception: his return to Sydney to direct and star in his own play Valentine's Day at the Marian Street Theatre.

Peace in Our Time, 2009 and 2010
Last summer, Barry served as Mentor for the Young Idea Project's staged reading of Peace in Our Time. He returns this summer for Antaeus's ClassicsFest 2010, appearing in a double role: as Mentor to Jess Bard and the young actors of the Antaeus Academy for a workshop production of Peace in Our Time, and as adapter of this play.

Notes on Coward and Adaptation
Barry writes about his connection with Coward and about the process of adaptation:

"My devotion to the work of Noël Coward has lasted as long as my own career in the theatre, and I've had the pleasure of performing several of his plays and many of his songs in cabaret. My London doctor and good friend was Noël's doctor, Patrick Woodcock; and a friend and theatre-going companion of mine was Gladys Calthrop, Noël's designer; so it seemed inevitable that I met Noël socially (in 1970 just prior to his knighthood). It was like meeting God - except, I think, that Noël Coward had a better sense of construction.

When Jeanie Hackett approached me about adapting Peace in Our Time to include music, a moment's consideration was all I needed to agree. With the phenomenal international success of Kneehigh's Brief Encounter in mind, I've edited Peace and integrated some of Coward's lesser-known songs - most of them of or around the period in which the play is set, and one wonderfully timeless song which serves as the emotional centerpiece. As exemplified by Brief Encounter, I see this exercise not as a "musical" in the Broadway sense of the term, but as a serious play with musical elements.

In editing the play (and I may yet be struck by lightning for trimming Noël Coward's dialogue) I had to eliminate about thirty minutes from the text to accommodate the music. Over a period of three weeks, I read and re-read the play to determine how much of the immediately post-war political polemic was relevant to 2010 America and abridged some of this along with some of the lengthier arguments between allies and collaborators. Given that most London pubs of my youth contained a sturdy upright piano, there is a logic to including music, some springing from the text, some sung by characters at the piano. An added joy is to be working once again with the talented and enthusiastic members of the Antaeus Academy."

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